Hybrid prize translates to schools' win: Prius raffle nets $198,000 for Chico, PV high schools

CHICO — When Gina Reggi-Bruchler won a 2009 Toyota Prius just before the fourth quarter of Friday's Almond Bowl football game between cross-town rivals Chico High and Pleasant Valley High School, thousands of students won as well.

The car, donated by Toyota dealer Chuck Patterson, was the prize for a raffle to benefit programs at the two high schools.

The total presented to Chico Unified School District that night came in two checks — $192,000 from the sale of raffle tickets at $20 each, and another $3,000 from Toyota.

Ann Patterson, president of Pleasant Valley's sports boosters, said her father-in-law, Chuck Patterson, came up with the idea in response to the drastic cuts the district made to programs last spring, including cutting funding to athletics by about $100,000.

So, she and other boosters organized the fundraiser, offering proceeds to any program or club at Chico High and Pleasant Valley that participated in ticket sales.

Besides athletic teams, she said tickets were sold by a lot of extracurricular clubs, such as bands, choirs, smaller learning communities and others, and she kept track of how much each organization had earned.

She anticipated that she would have exact amounts by the end of the week, after all the donation checks cleared, to be distributed to clubs and teams at each school, but the total appeared to be more than $198,000.

"We benefited more than anyone else in the community," Patterson insisted, describing a feeling of goodwill, expressions of gratitude and stories from parents of students.

Reggi-Bruchler — one of the scores of temporary teachers the district laid off last spring, whose husband teaches at Chico High School — was able to pick up her car over the weekend, Patterson said.

Staff writer Chris Gullick can be reached at 896-7760 or cgullick@chicoer.com.